74 
G.B. Trotter 
illustrated. For full technical details and full length 
illustrations of these other arms, refer to 
Skennerton's Australian Service Longarms. In some 
cases it has not been possible to photograph 
markings, but generally, the markings which are 
not illustrated are similar in style and marking 
method to those shown. One last point must be 
clarified. It will be noticed that Pinjarra is also 
referred to as Pinjarrah, this is because the old 
spelling included the "H". 
THE IMPERIAL FORCES 
Beginning with the first white settlement of 
Western Australia in 1826, Imperial troops were 
stationed here until they were withdrawn in 1863. 
Their arms would have included British service 
"Brown Bess" flintlock muskets and the various 
types deriving from it. They were the India Pattern, 
the New Land Pattern and the Patterns 1839 and 
1842 muskets. The 63rd Regiment, arriving here in 
1829 included in its stores the following arms 
which were in addition to their issue "Brown Bess" 
muskets. 
Rifles MFG CB with steel rammers 
and bayonets - 20 
Carbines, Elliots, with steel rammers - 20 
Muskets, extra service, with rammers 
and bayonets - 40 
Scabbards, bayonets, muskets - 60 
These arms were to be placed at the disposal of 
the commanding officer of the West Coast. 1 "Extra 
service" arms were cheap low quality muskets and 
bayonets made by the trade. "Elliots carbines" 
refers to the General Elliot Light dragoon carbine 
of 1773. 2 These arms were unlikely to have been 
marked. Later regiments had the Baker rifle and 
later still the Pattern 1851, 1853, 1858 and 1860 
Enfield long and short rifles. 3 Small numbers of 
most of these types of arms exist in public and 
private collections but they are generally unmarked 
except for the Board of Ordnance "B broad arrow 
O" mark on the butt and are therefore not readily 
identifiable as Imperial garrison issue arms. The 
absence of issue markings need not disqualify them 
as garrison issue arms however as it appears to 
have been not unusual for them to be unmarked. 
Skennerton states that "the regular British issue 
rifles and carbines were not always stamped with 
the unit markings". 4 Some of these arms do have 
the markings of British military units but none so 
far have been identified as units stationed here. 
These arms may be surplus regular army or 
yeomanry weapons sent to W.A. as stores without 
first having their markings cancelled. It is 
considered highly likely that most of the arms on 
issue to Imperial troops probably left with them 
when they departed W.A. and those arms which 
were left here and which have been noted as 
marked and unmarked, were probably "extra 
service" and obsolescent arms intended as reserves 
for the possible defence of the colony. A 
considerable number of socket bayonets which fit 
these muskets have been examined and were found 
to bear no ownership marks or stand numbers 
whatsoever. This evidence, tenuous though it 
appears, leads to the conclusion that virtually none 
of the service arms of the Imperial troops remain 
here, the surviving arms being the latter 
miscellaneous types. 
THE PENSIONERS 
The most significant Imperial force stationed in 
Western Australia was the Enrolled Pensioner 
Force, which manned the Convict Establishment in 
Western Australia. In response to a shortage of 
labour, convict transportation began in the free 
colony of Western Australia in 1850 with the 
arrival of a group of convicts and their Pensioner 
guards on the Scindian. These guards, like the 
Imperial garrison troops, were funded from 
Britain, but they were volunteers and are more 
closely linked to the settlement of the colony than 
the garrison troops. Many came with their families 
and remained as settlers. Their official association 
with W.A. lasted 30 years, with a further seven as 
the Enrolled Guard. 
The Enrolled Pensioner Force came to Western 
Australia as guards detachments with each lot of 
convicts arriving between 1850 and 1868. They 
served from 1850, but the need for this force 
declined after convict transportation ceased in 
1868, leading to reductions of their numbers and 
final disbandment in 1880. The need to continue to 
have an armed policing force in the colony was 
recognised however and a small number of 
Pensioners were selected to serve on a new force 
entitled the Enrolled Guard. This group continued 
the duties of the old force but was more of a 
gendarmerie. It existed from 1880 to 1887. 
Between 1850 and 1868 a total of 1191 guards 
arrived in the colony. In the early days they were 
armed with "smoothbore muskets and bayonets" 3 
for the rank and file. The early arms of the 
Pensioners were probably Pattern 1839 and/or 
Pattern 1842 muskets. One Enrolled Pensioner 
Force Pattern 1839 smoothbore musket is known in 
a private collection, complete with its 
accoutrements, but is unmarked except for the "B 
broad arrow O" mark of the Board of Ordnance. 
Based on such a small sample however it would be 
premature to conclude that all early E.P.F. arms 
were unmarked. On one occasion in 1855 the 
Pensioners apparently applied to England to 
